The Las Ketchup song

There are baby carrots, baby corn, baby onions and if I am not mistaken, also baby potatoes. The baby editions of these vegetables are not really babies as far as age is concerned. They are actually small editions of their larger relatives which are not as filling but are very decorative. But have you ever heard of baby tomatoes? There are big and small tomatoes but I really have no idea as to how cooks refer to the cute small ones that resemble smooth red pearls. Maybe it is simply big and small, although according to some news items, they have now found a name for the off-spring of tomatoes out there in the South of Spain. And it is ketchup.

Specifically, it is Las Ketchup and it is a trio of very pretty girls from the province of Andalucia named Pilar, Lola and Lucia. They are collectively known as Las Ketchup because their father is a famous flamenco guitarist called Tomate, which must be tomato in Spanish. So the children of Tomate are Las Ketchup. But that word presents another problem. Is it ketchup or catsup? Come to think of it, what makes ketchup different from tomato sauce? They both come from tomatoes so why is one ketchup and the other plain sauce? I do not have the answers. All I know is that I have always preferred the original Del Monte blend I grew up with and that we are ending the year 2002 with the music of Las Ketchup.

The song titled The Ketchup Song (Asereje) is catchy and made for party fun. It is certainly the most-heard tune of the Christmas season and everybody does or attempts to do the dance step it comes with. Unlike that other Spanish dance tune which spawned its own dance craze, The Macarena, Asereje still has to make it in the US charts but it is doing very well in Europe including the UK, the Latin American countries and the Philippines.

The lyrics of Asereje is in English and Spanish. It initially comes across as merely prate and the chorus definitely is but it actually tells the story of Diego, a hip party dude who likes to rap and is the king of the dance floor. Given all the attention the song is getting I thought it would help readers of this piece to better understand what the song is saying if I can provide a copy of the lyrics. So here goes:

Friday night it’s party time feeling ready looking fine

Viene Diego rumbeando with the magic in his eyes

Checking every girl in sight grooving like he does the mambo

He’s the man alli en la disco, feeling sexy, feeling hotter

He’s the king bailando et ritmo ragatanga

And the DJ that he knows well, on the spot always around twelve

Plays the mix that Diego mezela con la salsa y la baila

And he dance y la canta

Asejere ja de je de jebe tu de jebere seibiunouva

Majavi an de bugui an de buididipi

Asereje ja de je de jebe tu de jebere seibiunouva

Majavi an de bugui an de buididipi

Many think its brujeria how he comes and disappears

Every move will hypnotize you some will call it chuleria

Others say that it’s the real rastafari afrogitano

Repeat the first part and then go back to the chorus. In fact you can do the sequence of the lyrics any which way you want. You can even make up your own. Truth to tell, I will not be the least bit surprised to hear that there is already a Filipino version of the song in the making. You can do anything you want with it as long as you get back to that asereje part and those lyrics that drone, irritate, infect and which seem to defy translation.

Only time will tell if Asereje will turn out to be the Macarena of the new millennium. But no matter what happens, Las Ketchup certainly helped liven out the local party scene these past weeks. Only time too will tell if Pilar, Lola and Lucia will turn out to be the Spanish Spice Girls. I actually thought of calling them the Spanish Destiny’s Child because they are a trio but given their kind of music. Spice Girls makes for closer comparison.

And so again, Asereje…"